Elkhart ISD Names New Athletic Director
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
ELKHART – Elkhart Independent School District (EISD) named Cody Day as new Athletic Director and head coach Thursday, May 4. Day was set to begin work almost immediately, moving to the area from Colmesneil with his wife and three children.
Day is originally from East Texas having spent time at various programs around the area coaching football and working as athletic director in several school districts including Colmesneil, Frankston and West Hardin.
Day will be replacing outgoing Athletic Director Luke Goode who came to Elkhart only a couple of years ago, being chosen out of more than 100 candidates. Sources told The Messenger Goode was looking to be able to spend more time with his family, avoiding the hectic schedule of a full-time head coach.
Day said he knows he has a lot of catching up to do with the new role at Elkhart but said he was not entirely unfamiliar with the program.
“We played Elkhart for two years when I was in Frankston,” Day said. “So there’s a little familiarity there. I’m familiar with the history of the program and familiar that they have traditionally been a really strong baseball school. They’ve had a lot of success in track, as well. There’s some some good foundations here and some things to build on as well.”
Having worked in similar schools in East Texas, Day said he is also comfortable with the students having many activities other than just schoolwork.
“That’s the great thing about small schools like this – it’s not a five or six day school, students can literally play four or five sports and be in Ag and do all those things,” Day noted. “Those things are unique to a small school experience and I think that makes smaller communities unique.”
Day will be busy the last few weeks of the school year with big plans for the summer.
“We will have summer workouts. And to be honest, I’m trying to use the next two or three weeks to get to know the students and get them used to me,” Day said. “I want to build relationships with these kids and see if we can maybe have a little success in ‘seven-on-seven’ and get that going into the summer.”
Following the recent EISD state-level success in powerlifting, Day said he was particularly excited to work with that team.
“I was excited to see the powerlifting success because I am a powerlifting person, too. That’s it. I’m a powerlifting person as well. While I was in Frankston, we had a student go to state in powerlifting, I believe four years in a row,” Day said. “She was a state champion a couple of years, so powerlifting is near and dear to my heart. I’m just hoping to help elevate all programs.”
EISD Superintendent Dr. Lamont Smith hailed Day’s experience, success and personal strengths in a statement to Elkhart staff.
As for Day, the rush is on to get the family moved in, meet and get to know as many of the returning young athletes as possible before the end of the school year and work on summer programs and training before the season kicks off again in the fall.
Taking time from house hunting and getting settled in, Day took time to speak with The Messenger about his philosophy how students active in sports are enriched in more ways than just the physical.
“To me, athletics is one of the last bastions of ‘character education’ in society. And I tell the kids at the end of football practice, ‘This is about the only three hours of your day you’re going to go without an electronic device. And so you get real human interaction at that point,’” Day concluded. “I think that’s the value of athletics. It can help build the individual and there’s a certain toughness that is lacking in society in general and I think athletics helps build that as well.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
